His highest profile role was Joe Hardy, the baseball player who makes a pact with the Devil in 1958 musical Damn Yankees! Young Arthur Gelien grew up in San Francisco and Long Beach, California, and joined the Coast Guard at 15, lying about his age.

The actor, best known as a 50's pin-up boy, died on the weekend after collapsing at home.

A still from the film "Damn Yankees!".

Express.co.uk has contacted a representative for Tab Hunter asking for comment.

In 1955, Hunter was almost outed by the magazine Confidential when it highlighted his five-year-old arrest for disorderly conduct at a "pajama party" attended by a number of gay people.

Following decades of speculation, Hunter spoke out about his sexuality in his autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, back in 2005.

George Takei tweeted "Tab Hunter was so much more than a teen heartthrob - he was a celebrated actor, trailblazer and an icon for the LGBTQ community".

Most of Hunter's fame was found on stage, appearing notably in "Battle Cry", "The Burning Hills", "The Girl He Left Behind", and many more.

He was working as a stable boy when he was discovered, and his first film was a minor part in The Lawless in 1950.

Hunter's 1957 Dot Records recording of "Young Love", which stayed at No. 1 on the charts for six weeks, also spurred the creation of Warner Bros.

A career revival of sorts was triggered by his casting in Polyester, the hitherto-underground John Water's 1981 paean to all things cheesy-50s; Hunter starred alongside Waters regulars Divine and Mink Stole.

"I thought, 'Look, get it from the horse's mouth and not from some horse's a* em *THR's Scott Feinberg in 2015". And this guy said, 'Turn around Tab, this is for the next issue of Confidential magazine.' I went, 'Oh God!' and turned away. Meanwhile, he hid his relationships with championship skater Ronnie Robertson and actor Tony Perkins. I was just brought up that way. Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz, the film was produced by Hunter's life partner Allan Glaser, who survives him and is developing, with J.J. Abrams, Zachary Quinto and playwright Doug Wright, a feature film based on the section in Hunter's memoir about his affair with Perkins.